SEATTLE � Craig Counsell really didn't know what to make of the number.
Until Friday night, when Brent Suter made his major-league debut against Seattle, the Milwaukee Brewers had gone 474 games without a start by a left-handed pitcher.
"It's a little fluky," the Brewers manager said. "It's just a funny statistic, a funny note."
Suter ended the long southpaw drought but didn't make it far into the game. He exited after 4 1/3 innings, having allowed seven hits, three walks and four runs.
The Brewers never recovered in what became a 7-6 victory for Seattle, leaving Milwaukee with a 0-5 record on this trip. Overall, they are 19-40 on the road this season.
The Mariners showed Suter what they do best _ hit home runs (they entered the game with 167, third-most in the majors). Kyle Seager collected Seattle's first hit with a one-out homer in fourth inning and Robinson Cano ripped a two-run shot in the fifth when the Mariners rallied for three runs and a 4-1 lead.
But the Brewers flexed their muscles as well in making a game of it. Chris Carter opened the fifth with a drive to center, his 28th homer of the season, and Jonathan Villar and Keon Broxton went back-to-back to open the sixth to cut Seattle's lead to 4-3.
The teams took turns scoring after that, with the Mariners refusing to surrender the lead. They went to the long ball one last time in the eighth when former Brewers first baseman Adam Lind lined a homer off Chase Anderson to make it 7-4.
The Brewers made it interesting in the ninth, cutting the lead to one run on Ryan Braun's two-run single with two outs against Edwin Diaz. With runners on the corners, Hernan Perez struck out to end it.
To say Suter was a long shot to end the absence of lefties for the Brewers was an understatement. He was a 31st round draft pick in 2012 out of Harvard, not exactly a factory for major-league pitchers.
Suter rose steadily through the Brewers' system, never seeing his name among the organization's top prospects. He began to get more notice in 2015 with a brilliant showing at Class AA Biloxi, where he went 5-3 with a 1.95 earned run average in 20 games (11 starts).
That showing earned Suter a promotion to Class AAA Colorado Springs, where he went 3-1 with a 3.31 ERA in six starts. He returned this year to that club and a high-altitude venue renown for blowing up pitchers' ERAs like trick cigars.
Undaunted by those conditions, Suter went 6-6 with a 3.50 ERA in 26 games (15 starts), with 14 walks and 75 strikeouts in 110 2/3 innings. He was particular sharp of late, going 3-2 with a 2.34 ERA in his last seven outings (five starts).
"He's here because he has performed," Counsell said. "He has gotten outs in Colorado Springs with a 3.50 ERA. With all of our experiences sending guys there that have really struggled, I think rewarding somebody who is excelling at that level is the right thing to do.
"He has handled Triple-A hitters really well. This is the next step."
Here's the punch line to Suter's success: He doesn't throw hard. We're talking 84-85 mph with his fastball, the speed at which most pitchers throw their changeups.
In fact, the person in charge of recording pitch velocities at Safeco Field didn't know what to make of Suter's repertoire. Some of his fastballs were displayed as "changeups" and others as "sliders." Suter did throw some of those pitches but his fastball went undocumented at times.
None of that really mattered as Suter was saddled with the loss in his debut on a night when the Mariners kept adding on runs.
